Ask HN: How to solve trust in peer to peer marketplaces?

I buy and sell roughly 5 secondhand items per quarter. Usually it is larger price tag items like old phones, car, fridge, couch, etc.

For bigger stuff like a fridge or couch it requires meeting at the sellers home.

For cars it is tricky, because the person typically wants to do a test drive. So this means open roads…

For phones, a big problem is carrying cash with you when meeting in person. Or even just having your Venmo/Paypal in reach.

There is a lot of risk and uncertainty when dealing with strangers.

What solutions are there to do ‘trust’ checks of a buyer or seller before meeting up?